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News, information and research from Boston UniversityWed, 21 Sep 2011 18:14:24 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.5UN “Rio + 20″ preparations under wayhttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/19/un-rio-20-preparations-under-way/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/19/un-rio-20-preparations-under-way/#commentsWed, 19 May 2010 17:17:32 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=5582Preparations have begun at the United Nations for the global sustainable development summit to be held in Brazil in 2012, with the “Rio + 20″ summit to mark the 20th anniversary of the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro which was held 20 years after the 1972 environmental conference in Stockholm. International relations Professors Adil Najam, director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and Henrik Selin, a research fellow at the Center, write in a New Strait Timescommentary that sustainable development is the key to a “Rio + 20″ agreement.

“They should seek to craft a global new deal for sustainable development; a deal that could finally help bridge the North-South divide by tackling poverty as well as over-consumption, environmental degradation as well as social justice, and greenness of the economy along with sustainable livelihoods.”

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/19/un-rio-20-preparations-under-way/feed/0BU Study: Changes in Store for Northeast Summershttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/04/08/bu-study-changes-in-store-for-northeast-summers/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/04/08/bu-study-changes-in-store-for-northeast-summers/#commentsThu, 08 Apr 2010 19:30:37 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=5130A new study from Bruce Anderson, Ph.D., of Boston University’s Dept. of Geography and Environment has found that the summertime conditions in the Northeast have the potential to change dramatically as the century progresses.

According to Dr. Anderson, the study found “there is the threat that conditions across the Northeast are going to become significantly drier. In addition, they will become significantly warmer. More worrying though, is the health-related changes in the heat index for our region, which captures days with both high temperatures and high humidities.”

Anderson explains that not only does the average summertime heat index increase significantly – by up to 4C (7F) – but so do the number of potentially-threatening “extreme caution” days (where the heat index exceeds 90F). In fact, for the highly-populated Northeast megapolis stretching from NYC to Boston, over half the days during summer are expected to exceed the “extreme caution” value; and, the “extreme caution” value has the potential to become the norm for the region.

Similar studies carried out in parallel with this one suggest that the summertime climate of Massachusetts will become more and more like that of the deep South (Georgia and Florida) as the century progresses.

As President Obama joins the leaders of the world’s top eight economies at the G-8 summit in Italy, the success of this gathering is already being debated. The world economy and climate change are top agenda items the leaders will tackle. Available to dicuss what kind of outcome we can expect from the G-8 is Kevin P. Gallagher, professor of international relations and an advisor on trade and development policies to a number of national governments, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations. Gallagher can be reached at (617) 353-9348 or kpg@bu.edu

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/07/08/the-g-8-agenda/feed/0Senate fight over “cap-n-trade”http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/07/02/senate-fight-over-cap-n-trade/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/07/02/senate-fight-over-cap-n-trade/#commentsThu, 02 Jul 2009 13:53:02 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=1970The upcoming Senate battle over President Obama’s climate-change bill will center on the “cap-and-trade” system to allow trading of pollution permits as emission levels are increasingly tightened. Energy risk-management expert Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance in the School of Management, says not to expect Senate approval until the economy rebounds and there’s a stronger U.S. industrial sector – probably not until 2010.